Wire twisting and cutting tool



June 4, 1963 T. NEFF 3,092,152

WIRE TwIsTING AND CUTTING Toor.

Filed April 17. 1961 United States Patent 3,092,152 WIRE TWISTING AND CUTTING TOOL Ted Neil, 20975 Shamrock Ave., San Bernardino, Calif. Filed Apr. 17, 1961, Ser. No. 103,532 2 Claims. (Cl. 140--119) This invention relates in general to a tool for twisting and cutting wire and more particularly to a tool for twisting and cutting safety wire such as is used to secure nuts and bolts on aircraft, missiles, and rockets.

A primary object of the invention is to provide a tool which will twist wire quickly and eciently with minimum loss of time and at the same time to provide a means within the tool for cutting the wire after twisting is completed.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a tool for accomplishing the above tasks which has a secure and adequate hand grip or handle that can be held throughout the entire twisting operation to better control the tool and at the same time reduce the time required to perform the twisting operation.

Other objects and advantages will appear in the combination of the elements, arrangement of the various parts, and features of construction which will be pointed out more fully hereinafter and disclosed in the accompanying specification and drawings wherein there is described and shown the preferred method of construction.

Heretofore, other tools available for performing a wiretwisting operation require the operator to completely release a hand grip on the tool and move the operating hand to the rear of the tool where a grip must be purchased with the fingers on a relatively small projecting knob which is pulled to spin the tool and twist the wire. To repeat the twisting cycle, the knob must then be released, pushed back into its retaining cylinder with the butt of the hand, and regripped with the lingers for a second pull. In my invention, a full hand grip can be secured on the handle provided and the tool operated with a continuous pull-push motion without ever releasing the handle until the desired number of twists is obtained in the wire, thus considerable time can be saved in performing a wiretwisting operation while better control can be maintained over the tool.

Referring now to the drawings, wherein like reference characters designate like parts:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevation, partly broken away, showing the internal construction and arrangement of the various parts of the tool in its preferred form.

FIGURE 2 is a side elevation of the tool.

FIGURE 3 is a sectional View taken substantially along line 3--3 of FIGURE 1 as viewed in the direction of the arrows.

FIGURE 4 is a sectional view taken along line 4 4 of FIGURE 2, and shows the method used, in this instance, for locking the handles of the pliers in the closed position.

The detailed construction of the tool as illustrated in the drawings comprises a body 5 of cylindrical construction having a bore 6 extending longitudinally therethrough. A collar 7 is slidably inserted over the body 5 approximately 1/3 the body length from its outer end and is locked in place by a set screw 8. Collar 7 has a shoulder 9 of reduced diameter'facing toward the outer end of body 5, with a larger diameter 10 facing toward the inner end of body 5. Said shoulder 9 forms a bearing surface upon which is rotatably mounted a sleeve 11 forming the operating handle of the tool. Said sleeve 11 has a tapered surface 12 formed on its internal circumference at its rear or outer end. Threadedly attached to the rear end of body 5 is a retaining knob 13 having a tapered surface 14 cooperating with and opposed to tapered surface 12 on sleeve 11. Said retaining knob 13 holds sleeve 11 in position on body 5 while at the same time providing a means for locking said sleeve and said body together as a unit. This action will be described more fully hereinafter.

Within' the bore 6 of body 5 is slidably retained a shaft 15 having two diametrically opposed spiral grooves 16 and 17 running for almost the entire length of said shaft 15. Inserted or threaded internally into the forward end of body 5 is a sleeve 18 having two spiral gears 19 and 20 which ride slidably within spiral grooves 16 and 17. The forward end of shaft 15 is threadedly engaged with a threaded bore 21 contained in section 22 of pliers 23. Handle 24 of plier section 22 has a spring 25 attached to its underside, near the outer end of said handle, by means of two rivets 26 and 427. Spring 25 projects inwardly at approximately l degrees from said h-andle 24 and has a circular orifice 28, as shown in FIGURE 4, in its center section to freely accommodate body 5. The unattached end of spring 25 is shaped in the form of a hook 29 which cooperates with an oppositely-facing. hook 30 formed or attached to the underside of handle 31 at its outer end, said hooks 29 and 30 cooperating to provide a means of locking the plier in the closed-jaw position for the wire-twisting operation. A lat spring 32 is attached to the underside of handle 31 by means of two rivets 33 and 34. The inner, unattached end of spring 32 bears against flat surface 35 on plier section 22, said spring 32 acting to force open plier jaws 36 and 3-7 when hook 29 is disengaged from hook 30. laws 36 and 37 have the usual serrated surfaces, cutting edges 38 and 39, and traverse opening 40 that is found in other wire-cutting pliers.

In operating the tool, the two ends of the wire to be twisted are inserted between jaws 36 and 37; handles 24 and 31 are pressed together until the plier jaws grip the wire tightly; spring hook 29 is then engaged with hook 30; the opera-tor grips the handle formed by sleeve 11 and pulls outward, the pulling action locking sleeve 11 and body 5 together as a single unit by means of tapered surfaces 12 and 14 coming together and creating a friction lock; as the body and handle are pulled outward, spiral gears 19 and 20X, riding in spiral grooves 16 and 17, force shaft 15 and pliers 23 attached thereto to rotate rapidly in a clockwise direction, twisting up the wire. At the end of the pulling stroke, the action is reversed and the handle formed by sleeve 11 is pushed forward by the operating hand while the free hand holds the pliers stationary. The forward-pushing motion releases the friction lock formed by tapered surfaces 12 and 14 and allows body 5 to rotate freely within sleeve 11 as said sleeve pushes inward against the larger diameter 10 of collar 7, and body 5 travels inw-ard on shaft 15, spinning in a clockwise direction, until it reaches its starting position up against section 22 of pliers 23 where it is in position for the next pulling stroke or release of the wire as desired. In this manner, a continuous pull-push motion can be applied to the tool while maintaining a constant controlling grip until the desired number of twists have been applied to the wire.

After the desired number of twists have been applied to the wire, handles 24 and 31 are gripped and pressed together which releases spring hook 29 from engagement with hook 30, spring 25 springing backward to the position shown by the broken outline in FIGURE 1. A release or relaxing of the grip on handles 24 and 31 will then bring into play spring 32 which will force the plier to open and release the twisted wire, at the same time bringing the jaws to the open position for wire-cutting and threading operations.

An important feature of this invention not heretofore mentioned is the provision whereby the plier section of the tool may be removed and replaced when the wirecutting jaws become dull and ineffective, thereby eliminating the necessity for replacing the entire tool.

It will be understood and is obvious that changes and modifications may be made inthe forms, dimensions, construction and arrangement of the various parts, as shown, within the scope of the appended claims, without departing from the spirit of the invention, and therefore the invention is not necessarily limited to the exact construction illustrated and described herein, nor is the invention necessarily limited to any specific use or uses, but may be used for any purpose to which it may be adapted or is suitable.

Having fully described the invention and its method of operation, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

l. In a Wire twisting tool and the like, a pair of parts, pivot means joining the parts together near their upper ends to form pliers, each part having a downwardly elongated portion to form handle means and each part having a gripping portion at its upper end to form movable coacting jaws for securely holding wires and the like, one of the parts below the pivot means having accommodating means to which is fixed the upper end of a shaft means and which shaft means extend therefrom downwardly intermediate the handle means and parallel thereto, the shaft means having elongated spiral-like grooves therein to form track means, an elongated tubular element surrounding the shaft means and spaced therefrom and designed to slide along the shaft means, an upper end of the tubular element having rider means extending into the track means so that the rider means and the tubular element have relative rotation when the tubular means slides along the shaft means; a hand grip means surrounding the lower end of the shaft means, an upper end portion of the grip means having bearing relationship with the tubular element for rotation thereon, means provided to allow slight shifting of the grip means axially along the tubular element; stop means for limiting the shifting of the grip means, tapered lock means having one tapered part thereof fixed to the lower end of the tubular element and the other tapered part thereof integral with the lower end of the grip means so that the grip means, when pulled, stays stationary with respect to the tubular element while the shaft means and the pliers rotate but, the tubular element rotates with respect to the grip means when the grip means is pushed and during this latter action the shaft means and the pliers remain stationary.

2. The tool recited in claim l wherein spring means attached to the handle means is provided to latch the handle means in xed position to hold the jaws in clamped position, said spring means automatically releasing the handle means and hence the jaws when the handle means is squeezed with a positive force.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

1. IN A WIRE TWISTING TOOL AND THE LIKE, A PAIR OF PARTS, PIVOT MEANS JOINING THE PARTS TOGETHER NEAR THEIR UPPER ENDS TO FORM PLIERS, EACH PART HAVING A DOWNWARDLY ELONGATED PORTION TO FORM HANDLE MEANS AND EACH PART HAVING A GRIPPING PORTION AT ITS UPPER END TO FORM MOVABLE COACTING JAWS FOR SECURELY HOLDING WIRES AND THE LIKE, ONE OF THE PARTS BELOW THE PIVOT MEANS HAVING ACCOMMODATING MEANS TO WHICH IS FIXED THE UPPER END OF A SHAFT MEANS AND WHICH SHAFT MEANS EXTEND THEREFROM DOWNWARDLY INTERMEDIATE THE HANDLE MEANS AND PARALLEL THERETO, THE SHAFT MEANS HAVING ELONGATED SPIRAL-LIKE GROOVES THEREIN TO FORM TRACK MEANS, AN ELONGATED TUBULAR ELEMENT SURROUNDING THE SHAFT MEANS AND SPACED THEREFROM AND DESIGNED TO SLIDE ALONG THE SHAFT MEANS, AN UPPER END OF THE TUBULAR ELEMENT HAVING RIDER MEANS EXTENDING INTO THE TRACK MEANS SO THAT THE RIDER MEANS AND THE TUBULAR ELEMENT HAVE RELATIVE ROTATION WHEN THE TUBULAR MEANS SLIDES ALONG THE SHAFT MEANS; A HAND GRIP MEANS SURROUNDING THE LOWER END OF THE SHAFT MEANS, AN UPPER END PORTION OF THE GRIP MEANS HAVING BEARING RELATIONSHIP WITH THE TUBULAR ELEMENT FOR ROTATION THEREON, MEANS PROVIDED TO ALLOW SLIGHT SHIFTING OF THE GRIP MEANS AXIALLY ALONG THE TUBULAR ELEMENT; STOP MEANS FOR LIMITING THE SHIFTING OF THE GRIP MEANS, TAPERED LOCK MEANS HAVING ONE TAPERED PART THEREOF FIXED TO THE LOWER END OF THE TUBULAR ELEMENT AND THE OTHER TAPERED PART THEREOF INTEGRAL WITH THE LOWER END OF THE GRIP MEANS SO THAT THE GRIP MEANS, WHEN PULLED, STAYS STATIONARY WITH RESPECT TO THE TUBULAR ELEMENT WHILE THE SHAFT MEANS AND THE PLIERS ROTATE BUT, THE TUBULAR ELEMENT ROTATES WITH RESPECT TO THE GRIP MEANS WHEN THE GRIP MEANS IS PUSHED AND DURING THIS LATTER ACTION THE SHAFT MEANS AND THE PLIERS REMAIN STATIONARY. 